The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare is seeking input and feedback from the public on the draft National Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care Information Priorities. The draft document aims to help guide efforts in palliative care and end-of-life care information development over the next 10 years. The deadline to submit feedback is on 8 November 2020.

CarerHelp is hosting a panel discussion on Caring at the end of life: Navigating grief and loss on 13 October 2020. Hosted by Di Darmody, speakers in the panel include: Mr Chris Hall (CEO, Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement), Associate Professor Lauren Breen (School of Psychology, Curtin University), Ms Voula Kallianis (Social Worker, Palliative Care, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne), Ms Briony Lyle (bereaved carer of her late husband), and Ms Rennie Neasey-O’Connell (Funeral Director, Parkside Funerals).

The discussion will be livestreamed on Carers Australia Facebook Page at 5:00 pm AEDT, Follow the Carers Australia Facebook page to be alerted when the livestream begins.

11-17 October is National Carers Week and this year's theme is Tell Us Why You Care which aims to highlight the realities of caring and help build a carer-friendly Australia.

One in eight Australians provide unpaid care and support to family members or friends with a disability, mental illness, chronic condition, terminal illness, an alcohol or other drug issue or who are frail aged. Unpaid carers make an enormous contribution to our community and economy and National Carers Week gives everyone a chance to show their appreciation.

In the fourth blog for our National Palliative Care Projects series, Professor Liz Reymond, Director for Metro South Health at Brisbane South Palliative Care Collaborative, discusses the aims of the caring@home Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders People Project.

CareSearch has launched a national campaign designed to increase community awareness of palliative care as well as highlighting a host of free resources and information anyone can access.

The Part of Life campaign encourages all Australians to learn, care, and plan for death and dying.

The campaign launch follows significant work by CareSearch and its partners to assist health professionals and community members with access to quality information.

'Death and dying will affect all of us. It’s a part of life. And that means everyone has a role to play in palliative care,' CareSearch Director Professor Jennifer Tieman said.

'CareSearch provides evidence, information, and practical palliative care resources for everyone involved in providing care or supporting people at the end of life.'

Under the National Palliative Care Strategy, six guiding principles have been identified as fundamental to ensure that all people experience the palliative care they need.

The CareSearch Part of Life campaign therefore highlights six important elements of palliative care, including that palliative care is person-centred care; that care is accessible; and that everyone has a role.

'What we are hoping to achieve through this campaign is two-fold; we want to further support health professionals through easy access to quality information and we also want to lift community literacy as a way to encourage advance planning,' Professor Tieman said.

To explore the Part of Life campaign, please visit www.caresearch.com.au/partoflife.

Read our blog and media release.